The Turaida Museum Reserve in cooperation with the publishing house “Zinātne” has published a book “Moments of the Museum’s History in Turaida”. It compiles the articles, reports, speeches and interviews of Anna Jurkāne, Director of the Turaida Museum Reserve, which have been created over 35 years. The book is supplemented by an insight into the chronicle of the Museum Reserve’s events, an introduction by Ojārs Spārītis, President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, and foreword by Guntis Zemītis, a leading researcher at the Institute of Latvian History at the University of Latvia. From a historical point of view, the collection of articles is an important source, which shows that the management and development of the museum is a creative and changeable process and after a certain period of time you can see changes in it, even contradictions on certian issues caused by many different circumstances.

Anna Jurkāne, director of the Turaida Museum Reserve: “Moments of history, as well as events and moments of life if they are not documented - disappear very quickly and are lost. Change is an integral part of life and it happens in all areas. Museums have also sought new approaches and ways, new knowledge in the preservation and interpretation of  our cultural heritage. What, how and why? The work in Turaida has changed from the Local History Museum to the Museum Reserve, and what has been done in the Museum Reserve over more than 30 years, can be traced in the collection of articles "Moments of the Museum’s History in Turaida". What has been done in the Museum Reserve, especially on the preservation of the Historical Center of Turaida, there remains a lot of the unspoken and unsystematized information, even after this publication, and it should be the subject of further research. I have worked in the field of research and preservation of cultural heritage at Memory Institutions for more than 53 years. Five years in the archives in Sigulda as a research associate and 47 years in Turaida - from January 1973 to September 1988 as the director of the Sigulda Local History Museum and since 1989 as the director of the Specially Protected Cultural Monument – the Turaida Museum Reserve.

My source of strength and knowledge has been Turaida, the history of Turaida as a populated place, the beautiful landscape of the Gauja ancient valley, that I am watching every day on the way from Sigulda to Turaida, and the people around me with whom I have worked. I have always been inspired by the history of the Latvian people, the world of folk songs, medieval culture, traditions, constant changes, the preserved cultural heritage, the skills of museum and cultural heritage specialists to discover and preserve it.

The book can be used to trace the process – how a small idea or idea in daily work gradually transforms into a significant and implemented project. Here you can also read the public statement about how the Museum Reserve was formed. Step by step, year after year, gaining new insights, the Turaida cultural space is being created, which is visited by hundreds of thousands. All this was done together with the staff of the Museum Reserve, in cooperation with many specialists outside the museum and with very wide public support. Since I started work in the museum, in 1973, I had a strong commitment to study the history of Latvia, the life of society over a thousand years, without focusing only on the story of lives of the authorities and nobles, but  showing the society as a whole, the material and spiritual values created by it.

I wish everyone to work long years in one place and one profession. Believe me, it is so interesting to see the life of places, especially places as rich in cultural heritage as Turaida for many years, feeling the breath of this place for thousands of years and respecting what has been created by generations. The cultural space changes with the work invested in it, and you change along with it and with those who have done this work. There is no limit to the completeness in the study and preservation of Turaida’s in the same way as Latvia’s cultural heritage. It must be preserved and studied with joy and pride for its immeasurable richness ”.

At the moment you can purchase the book by sending your request to the e-mail: turaida.muzejs@apollo.lv, paying by bank transfer and receiving it in the post office or by Omniva. The price of the book - 10.00 EUR.